Stricken Cruise Passengers Bring Class Action Against Carnival

(Reuters) – The owner of the stricken Carnival Triumph cruise ship was hit by a lawsuit seeking class action status for stranding more than 3,000 passengers for five days on a ship without electricity or adequate sanitation.

Carnival Corp should be held liable for physical and emotional anguish inflicted on the passengers as well as punitive damages, according to the lawsuit by Matt and Melissa Crusan. The lawsuit was filed on Monday in U.S. federal court in Miami.

The Triumph was towed into Mobile, Alabama on Thursday, four days after a fire knocked out the ship’s power while it was off the coast of Mexico.

The lawsuit alleged the world’s largest cruise company failed to provide a seaworthy ship. In addition, “motivated solely by financial gain” Carnival negligently brought the Triumph to Mobile, where it would be repaired, rather than a closer Mexican port. That decision extended the trip by 350 miles, the plaintiffs said.

Passengers were exposed to disease as sewage and “human waste sloshed around the vessel as the vessel listed while drifting and/or while under tow,” according to the lawsuit.

A Carnival spokesman, Vance Gulliksen, said the company does not comment on pending litigation.

The lawsuit seeks to represent all of the passengers on the stricken cruise.

The complaint said that the Triumph ticket limits passengers’ rights to bring a class action, but that provision should be voided by Carnival’s negligence in using an unseaworthy vessel and not towing the ship to the nearest port.

Carnival has offered Triumph passengers $500, reimbursement for their transportation and many onboard costs, and given them a credit toward a future cruise equal to the amount they paid for the Triumph vacation.

Jim Walker, who specializes in representing cruise ship passengers, told Reuters last week that the compensation offer was probably more than Triumph passengers would likely win in court. Walker is not involved in this suit and said he is unlikely to bring a case.

The class action lawsuit, which was filed by the Lipcon, Margulies, Alsina & Winkleman law firm in Miami, is at least the second by a Triumph passenger. On Friday, Cassie Terry of Brazoria County, Texas sued Carnival.

Michael Winkleman, an attorney with Lipcon, Margulies could not be reached for comment.

Like the Crusans, Terry sued for the conditions aboard the ship, which lacked working toilets and proper ventilation.

The case is Matt Crusan and Melissa Crusan v Carnival Corp, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, No. 13-20592.